Article supporting rack



1956 B. E. SIEYVERS ETAL 2,774,481

ARTICLE SUPPORTING RACK Filed July 22, 1953 HY V EN TOR. %mu'ce ha/ma ldo'ed Z). diam United States Patent ARTICLE SUPPORTING RACK Bernice E. Sievers and Eldred D. Sievers, Winona, Minn. Application July 22, 1953, Serial No. 369,627

2 Claims. (Cl. 211-89) 7 This invention relates to racks for cloth articles such as ties, towels, hotpan holders, etc. or hard or rigid articles such as tooth brushes, pencils, and the like; and has for its principal object to make them secure in storage and readily detached for use.

Generally speaking, this is accomplished by providing oppositely arranged bars or strips of resilient material between which the articles are readily inserted and securely made fast by the inherent gripping action of the material.

The accompanying drawings show the preferred embodiments, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a simple form;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

openings 27 to receive screws or the like for fastening to V are easily produced in a variety of colors, etc., tofit in with the decoration notions of the purchaser.

In many instances, a single strip of resilient material 9 opposed to one side of the frame will afford the appropri- Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a somewhat more rugged form; and

Fig. 4 is a cross-section on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

But these diagrammatic drawings and the corresponding description are for the purpose of illustrative disclosure only, and are not intended to impose unnecessary limitations on the claims.

Fig. 1 shows a simple form of rack including a back side 10, a front side 11 connected by spacers 12 forming an oblong frame. Attached to each side 10 and 11 and substantially filling the space between them is a strip 13 of resilient material, the two substantially filling the space between the parts of the frame and cemented to them.

The frame may be made of any sort of material-for example, Wood put together by metal fasteners and glue 14 The back side 10 is shown slightly longer than the (front side, and the projecting portions 15 are provided with openings 16 to receive screws for fastening the rack .to a shelf, wall or the like. 7

The resilient material 13 may beof great variety, but in the forms found most satisfactory in use they are strips of so-called sponge rubber, which is a rubber-like composition expanded with a cellular structure and cut or molded into blocks or strips. The cells are ordinarily at random, forming a sort of labyrinth, and the material is easily compressed but quickly recovers when the pressure is removed. For that reason, when used for the strips 13 a tie folded is easily tucked between them and quickly gripped by the inherent action ofthe rubber.

In the form shown in Fig. 3, there is a back side 20, top side 21, bottom side 22, and spacers.23 secured together and forming a frame receiving the strips 25 of resilient material. The back side has projections 26 with i of the frame, said strips having the major portions of their ate gripping action, but opposed strips or pieces are preferred. While the drawings illustrate the device employed as a tie rack, it will be appreciated that'our rack may be employed to support a variety of other cloth articles; moreover, we have found that rigid articles of relatively small size, such as pencils, and articles with rigid handles, such as tooth brushes,.may be supported by our rack by inserting the rigid ends thereof between the strips of resilient material.

We claim:

1. 'An article supporting rack comprising an elongated rectangular frame including a pair of relatively long longitudinal side pieces and a pair of relatively short end pieces connecting the longitudinal side pieces, outwardly extending portions projecting from the ends of the frame adapted to be penetrated by fastening means for mounting therack in generally horizontal position against a wall or other vertical surface, and a pair of separate strips of sponge rubber substantially rectangular in cross section substantially filling the'frame, one strip'being secured to each of the'inside surfaces of the longitudinal side pieces inner surfaces disposed in closely spaced parallelism and each strip having the junctures of its said inner surface and each exposed outer surface right angular thereto beveled so that the strips combine to provide a narrow slit extending substantially the full length of the frame and having flaring lips opening on each outer surface adapted for the ready insertion of small articles to be held in gripping engagement by the opposed inner surfaces of the strips.

2. The combination claimed in claim 1 in which the plane of the slit is parallel to the plane of theoutwardly extending portions projecting from the ends of the frame so that the slit lies in a vertical plane when the rack is mounted on a wall or other vertical surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,876,284 Fried Sept. 6,1932 1,894,974 Bleckley Jan. 24, 1933 2,143,119 Waring Jan. 10, 1939 2,167,994 Pilliod et al. Aug. 1, 1939 2,197,326 Streyle Apr. 16, 1940 2,571,972 Wagner Oct. 16, 1951 2,598,614 Gilbert May 27, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS r v Y 171,295 Switzerland Aug. 31, 1934 

